STORMS wreaked havoc on morning Ballarat V/Line services, sending social media into meltdown with annoyed commuters.
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More than 3000 commuters were affected during the Monday morning peak-hour commute with 10 services delayed or replaced by coaches until 1pm.
Commuter Daniel Emerson said he endured a “most uncomfortable morning” after his service took three hours to get from Ballarat to Melbourne.
“I’ll have to stay back at work now until 7pm. Then I’ll have to get a train to Ballarat and a lift to Wendouree because the last train to Wendouree is at 5.40pm,” Mr Emerson said.
He said the train delays flowed on to affect Melbourne central business district’s tram services, forcing him to walk eight blocks to work.
Ballarat commuter Melanie Schoo said a three-hour trip on her 7.35am service to Southern Cross Station made for a rough Monday morning.
She said she was frustrated no delay announcements had been made at the Ballarat Railway Station.
Ms Schoo said the service ran into trouble at Rockbank where the train was stationary for an hour before arriving at Southern Cross Station just after 10.30am.
“Then for extra fun, because we touched on two hours earlier, we had to go back through the gates and touch on and touch off again,” she said.
“You would have thought they would turn the gates off for the morning.”
She said free coffee coupons offered at Southern Cross Station did not sweeten her morning.
“The system is clearly a mess, the slightest thing throws it out,” she said.
“I don’t think lightning is a particularly new phenomenon and storms or hot weather aren’t too unpredictable – it shouldn’t affect all services.”
V/Line spokeswoman Ebony Jordan said a signal failure between Rockbank and Deer Park caused by the storm resulted in delays of up to 90 minutes.
She said crews were still at the site working to fix the signal failure.
“An electrical storm in the early hours of this morning is to blame for the disruptions,” Ms Jordan said.
“The delays on this morning’s services were roughly 30 minutes, but the 7.28am service from Wendouree to Southern Cross was among the worst hit, with customers experiencing delays of around an hour-and-a-half.”
Services continued to be disrupted Monday afternoon and evening, with a signal fault at Deer Park shutting down the line between Rockbank and Southern Cross, and then the 4.38pm service from Southern Cross terminated at Ballarat, leaving commuters to Wendouree stuck waiting for the following train.
Customers who experienced delays of more than an hour are eligible for compensation and encouraged to call
V/Line on 1800 800 007.
david.jeans@fairfaxmedia.com.au
